Protect children: Legislature must get serious about abuse laws

The Legislature has had ample opportunities to do what is right for children and too many times they stumbled.

Despite all the differences on issues facing the state, there should be agreement on one thing: Pennsylvania is not doing enough to protect children.

There have been frustrations for years by those pushing measures important to children’s well-being, and those inadequacies have been painfully clear in light of the Penn State scandal.

Last week, the state House and Senate took a first step toward rectifying those shortcomings by creating a Task Force on Child Protection to examine the state’s laws and policies on child abuse and make recommendations for change.

It should have been a moment when officials could come together knowing they were doing the right thing for children.

Instead, it turned bitter during Wednesday’s debate, with a late-night shouting match and both parties accusing the other of not caring about kids.

Right before the vote on creating the task force, Rep. Ron Marsico, R-Lower Paxton Twp., told his House colleagues: “I ask members for a yes vote. A no vote is a vote against children.”

What was a mostly civil debate then turned ugly. Members of both parties spoke out. Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne County, responded, “To say that a vote against this silly resolution that will probably accomplish very little is a vote against children is absolute nonsense. But you’ve convinced me that that is exactly how I will vote.”

Rep. Curtis Thomas, D-Philadelphia, echoed that. “I am ashamed that you stood up and said to me that I am not about child protection. Shame on you! I urge you to withdraw that comment.”

It was a sad display from both parties. Out of all the issues to make partisan, surely protecting children is something we should all be able to agree upon.

Perhaps the best comment of the night came from Rep. James Roebuck, D-Philadelphia, who chastised all his colleagues: “You can say that if we vote against it, we are voting against children, but the real fault in this — the real shame in this — is that we have bottled up legislation designed to protect children month after month. And we should be ashamed of that.”

The reality is the Legislature has had numerous chances to change laws for the betterment of Pennsylvania kids in recent years — long before the Penn State scandal broke. But they didn’t — or they waited years to act on issues that should have taken only weeks, if that.

This newspaper has written many times about a needed Megan’s Law fix to end a loophole allowing out-of-state and homeless offenders from being prosecuted if they do not register with the state. District attorneys across Pennsylvania say they have been unable to prosecute a number of offenders because of the loophole and begged lawmakers to change the law.

Finally, it has gone to the governor’s desk, but it could have been fixed a year ago.

Child advocates have told the Legislature for years that Pennsylvania needs a child-welfare ombudsman. It might or might not have made a difference in the Penn State situation or the cash-for-kids tragedy in Luzerne County, but it has made reporting abuse a lot more straightforward in other states.

This year, child advocates asked for public service announcements to remind people about how to report child abuse and make clear who is mandated by law to report suspected cases. Delaware created a similar campaign last year with good results. These ads could make a big difference. There has been no appetite for the campaign.

For the Task Force on Child Protection to be meaningful, lawmakers have to take these issues seriously. This is about as nonpartisan of a topic as it gets.

It’s clear the types of people who need to be on this commission. They aren’t campaign donors or political insiders. They are doctors, child advocates and children and youth services workers.

If done right, we will get the outcome that we all should want: a safer Pennsylvania for children.